Ns was clear when I left work.Matt and I went into town to do yardwork.CSX was dropping ties on track 2.The flagman was born here in town.Old house in the neighborhood is getting new siding and a front porch.Need to run errands tomorrow.Going to be an early start to Fostoria Saturday morning.

stay safe

joe

Deshler Ohio-crossroads of the B&O Matt eats your fries.YUM! Clinton st viaduct undefeated against too tall trucks!!!(voted to be called the "Clinton St. can opener").

Chores and errands done.Just need to load up and go in the morning.Ns local was uptown when I left work.Friend told me that CSX is planning on putting new switches in this Sunday at west Defiance and the yard lead.Could make some interesting watching.

stay safe

joe

Deshler Ohio-crossroads of the B&O Matt eats your fries.YUM! Clinton st viaduct undefeated against too tall trucks!!!(voted to be called the "Clinton St. can opener").

I went from ho-hum to "Oh, Wow!" yesterday evening, then to "Ooof!" this morning.

We had driven to Cedarburg, Wisconsin, so we could see the exhibits currently running at the Wisconsin Museum of Quilts and Fiber Arts. They were good, but didn't take too long to look at. So we were back to Kenosha for lunch, facing the hottest part of a day that broke records here.

The car was as good a place as any to stay cool, so we took Wisconsin 83 to Illinois 83, with the plan of taking that highway all the way home...almost.

We missed a CN train going the opposite direction near Antioch. A trip toward the tracks in Grayslake revealed an active Dog 'n' Suds drive-in that we hadn't known about. And at an industrial area near there, were a bunch of SSAM (Sault Sainte Marie Bridge Company) ore hoppers that I made a note on for checking when I got home.

Close to home, where Route 83 turns off Elmhurst Road, I stayed on it, because there be tracks a couple of miles ahead. And sure enough, there was a northbound Canadian Pacific train waiting at Bryn Mawr. I saw that he had some interesting cars on him, so I made one of my classic U-turns-over-four-lanes-of-rush-hour-traffic moves, and we headed back along the train, in the closest lane.

By then, the train had started to move, so I stepped on it a little and got back to the turnoff spot at Bryn Mawr before the engines did. (Bryn Mawr is the railroad name for the junction west of O'Hare, in either Bensenville or Elk Grove Village.)

So we got there, and I was pretty busy taking several pages' worth of notes on the cars I was seeing. When he cleared the junction, we saw a northbound freight waiting on the Union Pacific line, but decided not to wait for it, as it was too hot to stand still while he waited to get his signal. As it was, I probably would have been frustrated by him, as the information I wanted couldn't be accurately picked up when the cars were in motion.

So we filled the tank and went home. That's the ho-hum part.

When I got to my laptop and my files, I started to see how lucky I'd gotten. There were build dates and order numbers galore among my notes, a reporting mark for which I had no file (no problem to make one...details abounded). One car I saw, though it was in a common series for me, just happened to be one that I'd never seen before. And another car surprised me by being from the "wrong" builder, prompting a major update of that particular file. Yet another car was from a series of South Shore coil cars I'd never seen before, in spite of the fact that we're along the South Shore nearly every time we go through Indiana...you'd think I'd have seen at least one of those 90 cars before. Still another car was obviously secondhand, but came from a group of several hundred that I hadn't yet documented.

So, that was the "Oh, wow!" part. Before I went to bed, I sent a pair of emails to an "inside" friend, in hopes that he could get me former numbers for some of the mystery cars. Well, he did...big "Ooof!"

I usually determine the series limits for the cars I'm interested in, and ask for a sampling of former numbers. Much of the time, the cars were renumbered in order, and it's easy enough to figure out the intervening cars, even if there are gaps.

Not this time...those SSAM ore cars came from two different companies, and in no order. The South Shore coil cars were in no order, and they didn't all come from the same place, either. So there's more digging to be done before I finish with these, and I'm ill-equipped to come up with the data I need, at least quickly.

And already today, with the passage of another good freight train here in Elmhurst, the cycle might be starting again. I'm already at the hopeful stage for some of what I just saw.

That sounds similar to my situation after our circle trips on Amtrak last summer and this summer. I spotted and also photographed a fair amount of industrial and shortline locomotives that had me digging up their histories when we got home. The same applied to some Class I power that I saw in storage or at division points.

If I had known, I would have gotten the car numbers which handled the 737 fuselages I photographed at King Street Station.

The daily commute is part of everyday life but I get two rides a day out of it.
Paul

I had a good trip up to NYC this morning, enjoying the business class car (nice upholstery on the seat, one free beverage from the counter, friendly crew, Wi-fi on board, good red cap service. From NYC to Utica, I also had a business class seat. The lunch offering is mediocre (in my opnion), but, otherwise the service is good. The red cap who took me and my baggage into the station in NYC put me on the train to Utica. We were delayed at Scenectady, and lost about an hour, but we did arrive in Utica at last.

I called Larry, and he took me to dinner, and it was a good meeting. I will see him again in the morning, and we wll go to Thendara and back, seeing the fall foliage.

I remember the trip I took out that way a few years back, and all of northern New York was spectacular!

I'm worried about ours this year. The Morton Arboretum had an ad touting the colors, and we took a ride around it this afternoon. There were lots of colors, if one cares for green, yellow, and brown. We just might be too dry.

Dry here in Nw Ohio.Fostoria was a good train show.Csx still had trains parked waiting to make turns in Fostoria and Deshler.Going to be warm again today as well.Gussers say about Wed. mother nature will send a front to cool us off.

stay safe

joe

Deshler Ohio-crossroads of the B&O Matt eats your fries.YUM! Clinton st viaduct undefeated against too tall trucks!!!(voted to be called the "Clinton St. can opener").

Debatable. Quite dull this year. It's been an odd summer, and fall has kicked off with temperatures in the 80's...

Johnny rode our "short turn" trip to Thendara with me today, and said he enjoyed the trip. We followed that up with dinner, again, then I dropped him at his hotel. He'll continue his trip tomorrow.

Picking him up at the hotel before the trip this morning turned into a challenge - the main street in Utica (Genesee) was closed for a foot race. I ended up having to go through the parking garage to get to the front door of the hotel to meet him.

It was a busy weekend - four days, half a dozen tests of engineers and conductors, and a stint as conductor one day when I had to fill in for our mechanical department guy, who was running as the conductor that day and had a hot project come up. Whew.

Monday, it's back to work installing radials (in the ground) for my "new" vertical HF antenna.

As Larry said, I enjoyed the trip even though not many leaves had lost their chlorophyll.

We had some good conversation along the way and back Now, I have enjoyed meeting three posters in the flesh--Carl, KCSFan (who is now deceased); he contibuted mainly to the Classic Trains forum, and now, Larry.

Thursday evening, when I got into my email, I learned that my college history professor will soon tunr 90 years old, and the celebration will be in Bristol 16 October. Katie said I should go to it. I made my Amtrak reservation Thursday, and I made my hotel reservations a few minutes ago. I'll pass through Lincoln eastbound the morning of Friday the 13th, be in Chicago on the way back Thursday the 19th, and (I hope) pass through Lincoln early on Friday the 20th.

I still need to get with the Dog for getting between Charlottesville and Bristol. Maybe tomorrow morning.

If Willy were still poking around here (folks weren't very nice to him and meteorologists in general), I'd ask whether there is a record for number of consecutive days in which records were broken in a given location.

We're going for Number Six in a row, with record highs. If it exceeds 90, we've done it. It's already 91 here, but this isn't the observation location.

If Willy were still poking around here (folks weren't very nice to him and meteorologists in general), I'd ask whether there is a record for number of consecutive days in which records were broken in a given location.

We're going for Number Six in a row, with record highs. If it exceeds 90, we've done it. It's already 91 here, but this isn't the observation location.

I was at our lake cabin an hour north of home yesterday and it was 56 degrees. Some friends were at a ball game 200 miles east and it was almost 90.

If Willy were still poking around here (folks weren't very nice to him and meteorologists in general), I'd ask whether there is a record for number of consecutive days in which records were broken in a given location.

We're going for Number Six in a row, with record highs. If it exceeds 90, we've done it. It's already 91 here, but this isn't the observation location.

Carl, I am quite comfortable in the lounge here, ctching up on my email, and waiting for my train (#5), which is scheduled to keave an hour and a half later than usual, and arrive at the Crossroads of the West four and a half hours later than usual, going through the Rockies and not around them (I went around the Rockies last week as I was coming east). I have no idea as to what our schedule to Denver is, except we are to lose three hours between Chicago and Denver.

Ns was clear when I left work.Matt got his school pictures back today.Wasn't sure if the neighbor lady was having a birthday tomorrow or not.I dropped off some baked goodies and said thanks for the tomatoes.Chores to do.

stay safe

Joe

Deshler Ohio-crossroads of the B&O Matt eats your fries.YUM! Clinton st viaduct undefeated against too tall trucks!!!(voted to be called the "Clinton St. can opener").

I'm glad you could keep cool, Johnny! I had to venture out a couple of times today at the museum (I found something pressing to do across the street when a log manifest came past!), and pretty well baked.

Today was the seventh day of record-breaking--got up to 92 here, when the old record was 90. Tomorrow promises to be closer to the normal highs in the lower 70s.

Johnny, what have you been avoiding on these routes that make you late? I know we can do it on the regular routes, but we usually don't get advance notice like that!